I nearly dropped my coffee. As I returned to my home office, I found my 3-year-old son, Ren, playing with a pile of gold nibs on my office floor. I foolishly had left them on my desk right in easy reach, and Ren was busy lining them up in single file there on the floor.
“Look, Daddy. I made a train.” he yelled with glee. I told him that those were not toys, as I quickly picked them up, checking each one to see if they were damaged. Fortunately they all seemed fine. I yelled at Ren for taking things from my desk when I wasn't there. Then I yelled at Keiko because she was supposed to be watching him. Then I felt guilty for raising my voice, but a Waterman #8 nib will make you crazy that way.
I forgot all about that nib incident for several months, but then it came back to haunt me. It still does. While doing some research, I found a story that made me feel sick. You see, Ren wasn't the first boy to find his father's pens.

In 1862 John Foley Jr., was nearly three and a half years old. His father, John Foley Sr. was a self-made man and had created quite a name for himself in the pen business. John Sr. was proud of his work and liked to tell how he entered the pen business as a young boy of 14, working the grinders and climbed his way up. In 1853, just five years after opening his own pen business, Foley won the coveted gold medal at the New York International Industry Exhibition. This is not so surprising. Foley learned what he knew from Levi Brown who was a partner with Reverend A. Cleveland, who had bought the patent rights for iridium tipping of pens in the late 1830’s from Sir Isaac Hawkins. (Please refer to my PENnant Article “Iridium Kiss”) This was a huge advancement over the steel nibs of the day, which were sold by the gross and wore out with a few uses. The Foley’s moved up quickly and now resided in a nice home in New York's affluent Lexington Avenue area. Yes, things were looking good for the Foleys, but often that is when tragedy strikes.

Foley pens from a1853 Foley Pamphlet

On Monday morning, May 7th 1862, John Sr. took his boy with him to see the pen factory and had a worker return the boy later the same morning. But something was wrong. Mrs. Foley noted that little John had trouble talking and didn’t want to eat his lunch. However the boy was interested in playing with his brothers and sisters, and she didn’t think too much about it.
John Jr’s condition grew steadily worse, and his parents thought he had a bad cough or summer cold. Something to worry about to be sure, but no reason for alarm. However, when the Foleys checked on their son that night, they were shocked to see that little John was turning blue. He coughed painfully, and he was breathing with great difficulty.
Dr. William H. Van Buren (nephew of President Martin Van Buren) was called and he quickly arrived at the Foley residence. He examined the boy and was worried. He diagnosed an obstruction and for an hour tried to remove the obstruction but without success. He couldn’t even see what it was let alone reach it. Frustrated, he looked at the boy and saw that his condition was growing worse.
Today the obvious answer is a tracheotomy. Even in 1862, the procedure was not at all new. Egyptian texts first mention the procedure in 3600 B.C. Nevertheless in the Civil War era, Trachs were still not a standard procedure. They were seen as a last ditch effort to save a suffocating person, and nearly always administered far too late to save the person. In the 1860’s the survival rate for tracheotomies was less than 25 percent. And Dr. Van Buren was not in a hurry to perform the procedure. He sent for Dr. George Elliot to come and give his opinion.
Dr. Elliot concurred with Dr. Van Buren. It was growing obvious that the child would die in a few hours if they did not do something. They explained the idea of the tracheotomy to the Foleys. Mrs Foley begged them to try it...and to do it quickly.

Ivory tracheotomy set circa 1860

Dr. Van Buren started boiling his instruments, while Dr. Elliot ran to the homes of Dr.’s Foster, Swift and Hawthorn and told them to come quickly and assist.
Once they had everything ready, the team of doctors began the procedure a little past 10:00 pm. They used chloroform to put the boy to sleep. Working with just the light from a kerosene lamp, Dr. Van Buren made the incision. Just before he inserted the trach tube, he noticed a glint of gold in the dim light. With a pair of forceps he removed a small gold nib from the boy’s throat. Dr. Van Buren proceeded with inserting the silver tube and instantly the boy’s breathing became relaxed and within moments his color returned.

I can feel John Foley’s pain and shame as Dr. Van Buren held up the gold nib for the other doctors to see. Any father can understand that. I thank God now that nothing happened to my son, and I will never leave gold nibs within his reach.

Illustration of available pen points from the1853 Foley Pamphlet

Little John quickly recovered and a week later, on the morning of the 18th, the same team of doctors were present as Dr. Van Buren removed the tube. Little John grew up strong and eventually took over his father’s pen company. I just wonder what became of that gold nib. Did Dr. Van Buren keep it as a souvenir or did little John keep it as a good luck piece?

Ron Dutcher has lived in Japan for over 15 years, where he owns and runs a small orthopedic clinic with his wife, Keiko; which leads him to many Japanese pen finds. His patients, once they learn of his pen hobby often give him pens as gifts or offer to sell them to him. He is a member of the Tokyo Pen Association, and has learned a great deal from Japanese pen collectors. He sells a great many Japanese pens on ebay under the name Kamakura-Pens, but his true love is for early American pens. He can be contacted at rd@kamakurapens.com